numerous issues
 

First the stats:
'04 6mt 36000 miles
reman put in at 29500(prison rebuild unfortunently)
coils/plugs replaced around 26k
fresh motor mounts
93 octane gas all the time
no premix on this engine
5w-30 oil non syn

issues:
third gear grinds at high speed when the car is hot/been driven for a while

cars idle dipped twice today, almost like it couldnt hold it and would stall untill i gassed it in anger. (down to about 250..battery light flicked on, bounced up over 1k). this happened a few weeks ago as well, not down to 250 but around 400ish.

car doesn't seem to have the juice in the lower end, seems alright mid to upper rpms. starting a hill is a drag.

hard to get a 'smooth shift', bucks and hits when shifting..i'd like to say im terrible at shifting but come on, it seems as the clutch engages that the engine can't keep up power wise to match.

possible solutions?:
bad reman(after 7k miles?)

i had the dealership clean maf/throttle body or whatever i got suckered into while hung over, didn't seem to run as good after that.

redline oil in the trans to mitigate that third gear hot grind. i have the cold second gear grind as do all of my early 8 brethren but it's not cold anymore.

bad cat--haven't noticed any glowing, a decarb and a flood has been through it though.

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im getting sick of these recurring issues. this car is a hot airhead girlfriend with a shopping problem. im tempted to throw in the towel and buy a scooberdoo but i really do not want to.

thanks for the responses!

have you tested your alternator, or the deflection of the pulley belt?

i have not checked, is that in response to the unstable idle?

as an aside, most of these things happen when the car is fully warmed up and having been ran for a while. when its first started and warmed up, it drives like it should, but performance seems to degrade the longer I drive it

First place I would check.

got on it a bit driving back from the gym(~5 miles), pulled in and checked, sure enough its glowing from the side. im sure if it was a longer trip itd be worse. safe to say this is the problem or does this ever happen to good cats as well?

for those holding their breath in anticipation, i took the car to the dealership, and they in turn are putting a new cat on. said there was airflow problems. hopefully this takes care of the lack of performance issue.